Two men, two messages. One a tyrant who rules over a benighted land. The other a leader of the fighting forces of freedom. In the end, only one can win.
Zelenskyy delivered a very powerful speech, while walking down Kyiv’s central avenue:
“There are no shackles that can bind our free spirit. There is no occupier who can take root in our free land. There is no invader who can rule over our free people. Sooner or later we win.” pic.twitter.com/aYm3iLMSfs [1]— Mattia Nelles (@mattia_n) May 9, 2022 [2]
FNC: “Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the West in his Victory Day speech Monday at the Kremlin, claiming that the U.S. and other countries had propped up a ‘threat’ on Russia’s borders and had even supported threats of nuclear war against his country.”
“Russia has always stood up for an international system of equality,” Putin said, according to a translation from the German outlet Deutsche-Welle. “We have always tried to find compromise solutions… Other countries had completely different plans.” Such a comedian.
“They have tried to attack our historical territories like the Crimea. They have threatened to use nuclear war, and the West has supported these military actions carried out in our neighborhood and that is why it was a threat we couldn’t accept,” Putin added. He claimed there was a “threat to our border. From what, exactly?
“We have seen the military infrastructure developed,” Putin claimed, mentioning “more and more international military advisors coming into the country. The country was provided with modern weapons. There was a threat that was growing day by day.” Uh huh. That’s why the Ukes invaded Russia. Oh, wait…
“The United States of America, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union,… has humiliated not only the whole world, but also their satellite states. They have tried to denigrate the memory of the Second World War,” Putin charged. Oh dear God, get a better speechwriter.
He then tried to rationalize the invasion. “Today in the Donbas, the militia and our forces stand up in order to defend our territory,” Putin said. “We have many people we should remember, and they are now supporting us in the Donbas. You are fighting for your homeland, for the future of our homeland.” For the future of a Bush league Dr. Evil.
Zelenskyy had a different story, one that is backed up by facts. “The evil has returned. Again,” he said. “In a different form, under different slogans, but for the same purpose…No evil can escape responsibility, it cannot hide in a bunker.
“On the Day of Victory over Nazism, we are fighting for a new victory,” Zelenskyy said. “The road to it is difficult, but we have no doubt that we will win.”
Russian invaders are “barbarians who… believe that their missiles can destroy our philosophy,” he said. “It annoys them. It is unfamiliar to them. It scares them. Its essence is that we are free people who have their own path.
“The Nazis were expelled from Luhansk, the Nazis were expelled from Donetsk, and Kherson, Melitopol and Berdyansk were liberated from the occupiers,” he said. “The Nazis were expelled from Yalta, Simferopol, Kerch and the entire Crimea. Mariupol was liberated from the Nazis. They expelled the Nazis from all over Ukraine, but the cities I named are especially inspiring us today. They give us faith that we will drive the occupiers out of our own land for sure.”
This piece was written by David Kamioner on May 10, 2022. It originally appeared in LifeZette [3] and is used by permission.